Self-locking container.



J. P. JOHNSON.

SELF LOCKING CONTAINER.

APPLICATION FILED IBB.1, 1911.

Patented Feb. 18, 1913.

JAMES F. JOHNSON, OF MILFORD, NEBRASKA.

SELF-LOCKING CONTAINER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed February 1, 1911.

Patented Feb. 18, 1913.

serial No. 605.988.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, JAMES F. JOHNSON, of Milford, Seward county, Nebraska, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Self-Locking Containers, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description My invention relates to improvements in :flexible containers and automatic locks therefor, said containers being especially adapted for use as sacks or the like to be filled with flour, cereals, grains, teas, coffees, or other loose substances. As generally put up, a sack is filled either by hand or more usually with a filling machine, and the opening is then sewed up.

ln some forms of' my invention 1 use a plurality of inlets which are normally out of' registry, but which can be brought together over the spout of the filling machine. and when the sack is filled or partly filled. the inlets are brought out of' registry and the flexible lock is drawn back to its normal position by the action of the sack or Container whose walls assume the shape of the contents. Thus the lock is held to its normal position so that none of' the contents is spilled.

My locking means can take quite a variety of forms without in the least departing from the principle of the invention, as will be understood by the description which follows.

Reference is to be had to the accompany ing drawings forming a part of this specification, in which similar reference characters indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a portion of a sack or container provided with one form of my automatic flexible lock. Fig. 2 is a sectional view of a filled sack like the one shown in Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a sack provided with another form of t-he self-closing lock. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the filled sack illustrated in Fig. 3, and Fig. 5 is a perspective View of' a portion of a sack provided with another modification of the fiexible lock.

As shown in F 1, I use a common form of flexible sack 10 which can be of any suitable material, and which has a filling mouth 1l located at any necessary point along the one edge of the sack. This mouth leads into an internal chute 12 preferably of the same material as the sack, and extending laterally toward one edge of the sack where it delivers through its mouth 13 into the sack. lt will be seen that this internal chute can be puckered up so that the mouths 13 and 11 will practically coincide when the sack is to be filled, and when the sack is filled to its requirements, the chute 12 can be allowed to extend itself across the mouth of the sack and the pressure of the contents will collapse the chute and cause it to form an effective lock and seal. .lt will be seen that this lock is thoroughly automatic, and that the contents are secured in a reliable way.

In Figs. 3 and 4L l have shown another way which will illustrate the idea fully, and in this case the mouth 13 is encircled by a cord 14 which extends downward through the sack and is secured as shown at the bottom of Fig. 3. The length of the cord 14 is such that the sack will not be quite extended to its length when empty, and when the sides are filled out asin Fig. 4:, the cord will be drawn on and tightened, and the mouth 11 closed by the pull on the cord. lt will be understood that the cord 14 or the two parts of the cord, can be run to any other part of the bag, so that the filling of the bag will pull on the cords and close the mouth, and also that if desired the cords can be made of various colors so as to serve the purpose of ornamentation.

In Fig. 5 the sack l() is provided with an internal chute 12 which extends along the inner edge of the sack and receives the material fed in through the mouth 11. The chute 12L has an inner' mouth 15 which is out of registry with the mouth 11, but the two can be brought into registry when the sack is filled, and when the latter is filled the contents fill out the sack and close the iexible chute 12 across the mouth 11, thus effectually sealing the latter.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that I accomplish the result of securing the sack automatically by the pressure of flexible valve.

JAMES F. JOHN SON.

its contents, that the sack can be filled as readily as the usual form of sack, and that the locking is absolutely automatic.

I claim:

A flexible container having a exible valve extending along one edge, 011e end of the Valve being closed and the other opened t0 fitnesses GEO. C. MUNDIN, M. NELSON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

